Wicked Winston-Salem

By Alice E. Sink

The famed Piedmont Triad city of Winston-Salem has a history filled with depraved people committing untoward acts. From Libby Holman, the singer with a sultry, smoky voice accused of murdering her millionaire husband to the man caught with hundreds of gallons of beer, liquor, and a "tin lizard" whiskey still, residents of Winston-Salem were no strangers to depravity. And leave it to a band of organized tobacco thieves to break into dozens of warehouses and steal the livelihood of law-abiding citizens, or a group of drunkards threatening to spread smallpox when they were confined to quarantine to wreak havoc throughout the city. Join prolific local author Alice Sink as she recounts tales of the dastardly denizens and rakish residents of this North Carolina town.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The History Press
• Release date: Sep 27, 2011
• ISBN: 9781625841155

Alice E. Sink

Alice E. Sink was an Associate Professor of English for thirty years at High Point University in North Carolina. She is the published author of numerous books, articles, and essays; she earned her MFA in Creative Writing from UNC Greensboro. In 2007, she was awarded a grant to promote her writing from the Central Piedmont Regional Artists Hub.

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Part I

Public Concerns and Policies

TOBACCO WAREHOUSE THIEVES

The robbers were called an organized band of tobacco thieves in a December 12, 1927 newspaper article entitled Tobacco Thieves Have Been Active at Winston-Salem. Warehouse officials and Winston-Salem police officers arrested a man alleged to have been attempting to cash tickets for stolen tobacco. Following are the details:

Many piles of weed in some of the warehouses are said to have disappeared after being bought and it is believed thieves turned the tickets, removed the piles, and cashed the tickets upon resale. One warehouse is said to estimate that $1,000 worth of tobacco was stolen there and another is reported to estimate $800. One farmer is said to have lost his truck and a load of tobacco, which was parked outside a Winston-Salem warehouse. It has not been learned whether he recovered any of his property.

Officers reported that a week earlier, they found an abandoned Ford on a highway in Forsyth County, with empty tobacco sacks in it and evidence that tobacco leaves had also been there but were now gone.

SLOT MACHINE AND PUNCH BOARDS

Belvin Miller, an employee of the Veterans Administration office in Winston-Salem, discovered that there is truth in the old saying Three Strikes and You’re Out. He had an automobile accident, and when officers answered the call, they found unlawful lottery equipment in his vehicle. When his case went to court, his reckless driving case was dismissed, but he was given a six-month suspended sentence and fined $250, plus court costs. What was Mr. Miller’s story? According to a newspaper account:

He was quoted as testifying that the slot machine belonged to a friend who kept it in his basement for amusement and that he, Miller, was taking it to have it repaired. He was also said to have testified that the punch boards belonged to a friend who operates a service station and who was sending them back by Miller.

WHISKEY RAIDS

Sidney Mize, in trouble at Winston-Salem on account of alleged dealings in whiskey, also had a federal case against him for figuring in a sensational scrap at nearby Welcome, North Carolina. The August 22, 1921 newspaper account relates that Mize was under $800 bond after his moonshine still, the tin lizard kind, was destroyed by officers, who also confiscated and destroyed two kegs containing between seven and eight gallons of whiskey, a hundred gallons of beer and two gallons of low wine. The story of the raid does have a humorous twist:

Mize and his partner were captured as they were coming away from the still, each carrying a keg on his shoulder partly filled with liquor. The officers arrived near the still just as operations were ending for the evening and saw a lantern moving through the undergrowth near the place. Deputies followed the lantern and soon gained on the men bearing the kegs. Becoming weary they sat down their burdens and rested on the ends of the kegs. The officers made a dive and grabbed the two men. Mize made no struggle, but the other man, being of powerful stature and also being very badly scared, let out a curdling yell and scuffled with one of the deputies. They had a fierce shuffle, until finally the prisoner slipped from the grasp of the officers and darted away in the darkness.

Two men of the U.S. Internal Revenue Bureau carrying packages of confiscated liquor.

Man carrying confiscated liquor.

Policeman standing alongside a wrecked car and cases of moonshine.

Officers took Mize to jail and then went to the home of the second man, whom they had recognized after he lost his hat during the raid; however, he was not at home.

A MAJOR NUISANCE STUCK IN COMMITTEE

The City of Winston-Salem government meeting notes for July 4, 1913, addressed a complaint about sewage in Salem Creek. It appeared that property owners on Salem Creek had asked the board to appoint a special committee to meet with the land owners affected by sewerage pipes emptying into the creek, and to examine the conditions which are now in existence, find a way to remove what was there and find methods to keep this from happening again and again. The minutes read:

Complaints such as this are not new. Winston Aldermen heard such complaints some 10 years earlier and referred them to committee. These sewers had been built over 30 years ago with disposal at this point. With the continuing growth of the town, it was obvious that this condition was not creating a major nuisance.

A mechanical digger opening a sewer line.

WICKED SMALLPOX AND THE PESTHOUSE

According to the Book of Minutes of Winston’s board of aldermen, the first day of January 1882, a smallpox epidemic swept through the town. The board issued an edict that everyone—young and old—receive a smallpox vaccination. For those already ill with the disease or individuals having been exposed to someone with smallpox, a pesthouse opened to quarantine—under guard—those persons. The cost of the pesthouse rental was four dollars a month. The following minutes are from a meeting of the board called on January 14, 1882:

Whereas it appears that the persons confined in quarantine in Winston on account of having been exposed to smallpox have become drunk and are threatening to break the grounds and spread the disease, one motion ordered that persons confined within the limits of quarantine who shall become disorderly shall be punished by having a ball and chain put on them.

Five days later, the board of aldermen issued another edict that prevented anyone from entering Winston from the NWNC Railroad without first being vaccinated or presenting satisfactory proof of vaccination to the physician in charge at the Depot. A smallpox epidemic was not a new concern for the area; in April 1779, a soldier had arrived with the disease, causing Salem to experience panic for the next six months.

On January 15, 1900, the Town of Winston Directing Board spent a great deal of time talking about the smallpox epidemic in Forsyth County because, according to the city attorney, this City is in great danger and steps should be taken at once. A system of quarantine could be made practical and the only sure preventative was vaccination. Minutes show that the following discussion ensued:

The Aldermen agreed that public sentiment did not favor compulsory vaccination and suggested that action be deferred until a mass meeting of the town was called to fully discuss the dreadful effects of an epidemic of small pox. 2000 circulars were printed for a meeting to be held the next night at the courthouse.

Two days later, on January 17, the board again met because the vaccination ordinance had been unanimously approved at the town meeting. An ordinance was enacted requiring all citizens to be vaccinated within 10 days. If a person was unable to pay, the City would absorb the expense. Less than a week after that, a case of smallpox was confirmed in a room in the Gray Block. The superintendent of health recommended that…the patient be removed to the small pox hospital and also send to the detention house all persons exposed to the disease by reason of visiting the room. This detention facility was called a pesthouse and was located on the outskirts of Winston.

A BAD IMPRESSION

On February 2, 1902, the board of aldermen of the city of Winston made this unanimous resolution:

Resolved…the Southern Passenger Depot is not in keeping with the enterprise and progress of our City in that it gives to visitors a wrong impression of our town, that it is totally insufficient to give necessary comfort and convenience to the traveling public. It is also the opinion of this Board that the immense revenue derived by the Southern Railway Company from the business transacted at this point, entitles the Citizens of Winston-Salem to a large, convenient and comfortable Passenger Station.

NO, NO AND MORE NO’S

At the October 20, 1914 board meeting, members approved the following ordinances relating to the fire department: NO—interfering with the Fire Department, giving a false alarm, driving over a fire hose, interfering with fire prevention rules and drinking alcoholic beverages in a fire station.

EPIDEMIC OF SPANISH FLU

On October 5, 1918, the U.S. Health Service made the following important announcement:

The City was ordered to close all public gathering places, schools, churches, theaters, picture show, etc. on account of the epidemic of Spanish Influenza. It was agreed that the City had no other course of action since in effect the State Board of Health had prohibited all public gatherings. Clippings from newspapers from a number of North Carolina cities were read showing that such action had already been taken in the larger cities. The matter was left in the hands of the Health Committee with power to